Information Competencies in the WorkplaceThursday, 19 March 2015,

12.30pm – 4.30pm The BT Centre, 81 Newgate Street, London, EC1A 7AJ

Communications• Wifi:– _BTWi-fi– No user name or login required – apart from your email

address

• Google doc: http://tinyurl.com/mbofs6c

• Twitter #icitw

Programme12.00 Registration12.15 Lunch1.00 Welcome and introduction1.20 Panellists1.40 Q&A2.00 Workshop 12.45 Refreshment break3.00 Workshop 23.45 Roundup4.00 Summary, conclusion and next steps4.30 Close

Context

• CILIP: Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals

• InformAll: collaborative, multi-agency focus for promoting the relevance, importance and benefits of information literacy

• ILG: A CILIP Special Interest Group which encourages debate and the exchange of knowledge in all aspects of Information Literacy.

Information literacy…• Information literacy is knowing when and why you need

information, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner. (CILIP, 2013)

• “… information literacy and lifelong learning are the beacons of the Information Society, illuminating the courses to development, prosperity and freedom. Information Literacy lies at the core of lifelong learning. It empowers people in all walks of life to seek, evaluate, use and create information effectively to achieve their personal, social, occupational and educational goals. It is a basic human right in a digital world and promotes social inclusion of all nations.” (UNESCO, 2006)

(SCONUL, 2011)

(VITAE, 2010)

(ANCIL, 2012) (Manchester Metropolitan University, 2002)

(Eisenberg, 2008)

Information literacy in the workplace

• ‘Learning’ is not the primary goal

• “…productivity, quality measurements, and development of expertise” (Lundh et

al, 2013)

• “Effectiveness” (O'Farrill, 2010)

– Information Literacy as Knowledge Management

– NHS

• Firefighters, Lloyd (2005, 2006)

• SME and Charities (Go On UK, 2013)

“Information literacy should be defined as the ability to know what there is in a landscape and to draw meaning from this through engagement and experience with information” (Lloyd, 2006:570)

Recent documentation

• Transferring information know-how • Information Literacy in the Workplace:

An annotated bibliography • Information literacy is for life, not just

for a good degree: a literature review• Digital skills for tomorrow’s world

INFORMATION

DIGITALICT

COMPUTINGDATAMEDIA

RESEARCHPROBLEMCURRENT

LITERACYSKILLS

FLUENCYCOMPETENCIES

CAPABILITIESABILITIESSOLVING

AWARENESSUNDERSTANDING

EVALUATIONKNOW-HOWKNOWLEDGECONFIDENCE

CAPACITYUSE

WORKPLACE

REPORTSPRESENTATIONS

PLANSCOPYRIGHTS

CONFIDENTIALITYINSTRUCTIONS

WEIGHTSMEASURES

UP-TO-DATE

Purpose of the day• The wish to hold an event about information literacy/ competencies/ skills

in the workplace came out of our information literacy project which formally ended in December 2014. This is a relatively new area for CILIP and one of the project deliverables was a statement on IL in the workplace and we hope that this event will inform this.

• InformAll had similar concerns and at the time of our project were conducting research into how IL is perceived by a range of players at the interface between HE and employment. Part of InformAll’s remit is to raise awareness of IL as an important set of transferrable attributes and the research and subsequent report Transferability of IL beyond academia was a part of this work.

• Beyond academia the concept of IL is not widely recognised though the importance of acquiring an ability and capacity to handle information and to understand its use, application etc is recognised as a necessary skills set amongst employers and others in the employment sector.

Purpose of the day

• Explore what we mean by information competencies and skills

• Discuss challenges and opportunities

Anticipated outcomes

• We see this event as an exploratory one• In addition to it being a learning experience

for both us and delegates we would like a practical outcome for employers, careers advisers etc.

Programme

• We’ll kick off with each of the panellists speaking about their own perceptions and experiences.

• We’ll then split into groups for the workshops. You will find your group number on your badges.

• There will be a reporting back session at 3.45pm when we ask the groups to think of at least one tangible idea that could have a practical outcome.

• We will be having a refreshment break at 2.45pm.

Panellists

• Alan Beesley – SELEX• Lucy Hawkins – AGCAS / University of Oxford

PanellistsQuestion 1:•How would you define information competencies? •How relevant are information competencies and skills to an individual’s effectiveness as an employee in your organisation? •Is a lack of information competencies and skills identified as a “skills gap” by employers?

Question 2:•Can you give any examples of specific information competencies training you have experienced or instigated in your organisation?•Do you have examples of policies and strategies?•Whose job is it to make sure people have these information competencies - Educators, employers, individuals themselves?

Workshop 1

• What do information competencies and skills mean to those around the table? What’s the problem?

• Key issues:• Information leads to outcomes• Security – information as an asset• Knowledge management / transfer• Problems with transferability• Importance of context• Individuals / organisations

Workshop 2• Explore the challenges and how they can be addressed.

What can CILIP and InformAll do to help? (Use the final 10 minutes of this session to think of at least one tangible idea that could have a practical outcome)

• Key issues:• Information leads to outcomes• Security – information as an asset• Knowledge management / transfer• Problems with transferability• Importance of context• Individuals / organisations

Roundup

• Workshop participants report back to the group

Summary, conclusions, next steps

Thank you for your participation